An unstoppable tide of trolls
The ever-escalating civil war in the skeptic community is perhaps being won by a sophisticated sort of troll. In the meanwhile, the possibility of debate is ever more constrained, and prejudices are simply entrenched.
Thinking fast and slow
Kahneman and Tversky’s work on decision-making and judgement, and particularly heuristics, highlight the ways in which we make systematic errors even when we think we are being rational. If we’re to learn from each other and flourish as a society, it’s worth being reminded that we’re far less equipped to make the judgements we so routinely do than we think we are.
Sam Harris, ‘new atheism’ and alleged Islamophobia
While there is much that some commentators find legitimately disagreeable about Sam Harris – most obviously, his moral philosophy as expressed in The Moral Landscape – charges of Islamophobia against him and so-called new atheists stem more from a politically correct fear of giving offence rather than a balanced consideration of his position in this regard.
Breivik, terror and Islamophobia
The problem with Breivik is not Islamophobia, or “Christophobia”, but rather that belief systems with no warrant encourage and legitimate you to interpret them however you please. This is one possible consequence of this epistemic laxness, and moderate religious folk can’t wish this problem away.
